A man who described himself as a teacher/scholar inside the Boko Haram camp on Tuesday, July 8th spoke anonymously with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World radio service where he stated that it’s only the release of their imprisoned members by the Federal Government that can make them release the over 200 Chibok girls they abducted on April 14th at the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok.
In the interview, the teacher/scholar claimed that he was attracted to the Boko Haram sect in 2004 because of the group’s teachings. According to him, the sect taught that Western education was opposed to several aspects of Islam. Therefore, the sect became opposed to Western education, democracy and many aspects of the Western way of life. He claimed that the sect wanted Sharia instituted in the Northern part of the country, and to later spread it to other parts of the country.
The anonymous member of the sect claimed further that Boko Haram does not do indiscriminate attacks. According to the BBC reporter, the teacher said the fighters targeted its enemies, among them those who fight the group and those who leak information about their operations to the authorities.
Below is the text of the man’s direct speech on the BBC:
“Yes we want the Nigerian government to release our members. As our leader Abubakar Shekau promised to the media, if today the government releases our members, tomorrow or the next day we promise you can see all of them (the girls). We would release them tomorrow or the next day.” he told BBC World Radio.
“I am telling you a fact, they are in a state of amnesty. They don’t have a problem. Some of them have belief din Islam, some of them say they would not convert to Islam but we didn’t differentiate them, we treated them equally. They are healthy, feeding and all. We didn’t differentiate between them at all, because, Allah commands us to treat them equally. Some of them say they would not come back to Islam, we asked them to stay, no problem. There is no forcing in Islam but some of them who are not Muslims are converting to Islam but we are not differentiating them. If you see them now, you would see that they don’t have any problem”he said
“Under Islam, killing children and women is not accepted you understand, but if they are fighting you, then you must fight them but if they are not fighting you, then it is not accepted whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims. Do not fight them, it is not accepted but if you bomb somewhere or make arrests somewhere, it will affect them but killing children and women is not accepted” he added.
